C. Chase Taylor

Monthly Archives: January 2003

Upon the discovery of a local Irish pub that has a genuine dart board (none of this electronic crap), some friends and I have since taken up dart throwing after work, every once in a while. Much like other bar games (ie. pool, or umm… pool), there are some rules of ettiquette, but more often you're playing with friends rather than strangers, so ettiquette gives way to trash-talking, mocking, laughing, friendly bets, challenges, and another round or two of beer. As with pool, there is also a certain inebriation/ability correspondence, and after a couple drinks, skill increases 10-fold. Enjoy this window while you can, because it only lasts until your next drink, when skill begins decreasing at an exponential rate. Once skill (or lack thereof) reaches critical mass, you know it is time to stop. These observations are nothing revolutionary, I know, but I just find all of the patterns and nuances in these everyday (well, not quite *every* day) events fascinating.

We have also discovered through trial and error (and more error) that the drink/skill equilibrium does not hold true for any type of trivia or quiz night held in a bar or pub setting. There is a direct relationship between number of drinks consumed and number of questions answered wrong. But thankfully, in the case of trivia, there is also a direct relationship between number of drinks consumed and not caring about the trivia in the slightest.

Well, damn, we must just live in the best country ever!! We're promised huge tax breaks, better medical and retirement benefits for all, a blossoming economy, and last but definitely not least, hydrogen-fuel powered cars all within the next 10 years! Oh, and if your country looks at us sorta crooked, or even if you happen to be friends with a country that looks at us sorta crooked, we'll bomb the hell out of you!

That was about what I got out of the speech tonight. I think its pretty accurate. After Bush finished his laundry list of Iraq's weapons, chemicals and general naughty behaviours, I half expected a loud Texan shout of, “So, y'all ready for a waaar?!?” Actually, I'm pretty sure he did say that at one point.

In my dream I saw a woman walking slowly across a barren, ancient battlefield, littered with the remains of wars fought many hundreds of years ago. It was just before sunrise, and as the sky began to grow brighter, she approached the top of a hill. Lying on the ground, propped against a rock was a battered skeleton, with the rusted remnant of a sword on the ground next to it. The woman softly spoke a few words, “The light at dawn will change this.” As soon as the words left her mouth, the sun crept above the horizon and its rays flooded the field. As they hit the bones of the skeleton, they dissolved into a fine dust that was immediately dispersed by the wind. The same happened with every other piece of iron or bone on the ground. With that, the field was clean.

On Saturday I drove about an hour north of Seattle to Deception Pass State Park, where I spent the afternoon exploring, enjoying the scenery and the amazing sunset. I've watched the sunrise over the Atlantic and I realized this was the first full sunset that I've seen over the Pacific Ocean. In my 23 years of memory, I think it goes down as the most beautiful sunset I've witnessed. Take a look for yourself.

As is often the case, I've been finding it easier to play with images lately, than to write a lot of text entries or to go and edit the guts of my new site setup. Daily is still something I've been working on, if a bit sporadically. It really shouldn't be too hard a goal to keep it living up to its name. And it shouldn't be too hard to write something here every day. Perhaps it has become too intimidating to try cataloguing my life and experiences day-to-day. Then there is the thought that nobody is really listening, especially when there are a billion and one other websites out there with just as much (if not more) self-important, angst-ridden, and more-frequently-updated content. Then I remember I work with technology and websites every day, and one of the last things I want to do is sit down at home and do the same, even if I do have plenty of self-important and angst-ridden content to share. Just some thoughts on this whole weblog thing. I'm not about to give it up, just starting to wonder what I'm doing it for and why. Heh, well, MovableType is just so nifty.

I've gone and switched to this new format for my Collections site. The old site is here. I will be working on adding the old entries into this new layout. I will also be working on adjusting the look, feel and functionality of this site to get it just right.